If I Didn't Have You
by Zany the Nerd
Summary: "I wouldn't have nothing if I didn't have you, kid." "Did you steal that from a song, Sully?" "Eh, maybe." A collection of one shots focused on Sully and Nate's relationship. (father/son)
1. First Night

Nathan Drake looked up at the man he was walking next to and, not for the first time that day, wondered if he had made a big mistake. He had earlier agreed to stick with this Sullivan, at least for a little while, so he could learn a few tricks from him, but was that really a smart idea? When he made the decision he had been tired, hungry, and his head had still been reeling from the prior events. Now, he was headed to some hotel with the man and if that did not raise a huge red flag, Nate wasn't sure what did. Sure Sully seemed nice, but he was still a stranger and who knows, maybe that ephebophile crack he had made earlier wasn't far off from reality. But even with these precautious thoughts running through his head, he found himself still following the dark haired man.

"Here we are." Sully said gesturing to the old two story building, "We'll stay here for the night and tomorrow we'll catch the first plane out of this pit back to the States. Sound good?"

"Fantastic." Nate answered, his mind drifting to his brother. Sam was in the United States right now sitting in a jail cell. On their last treasure hunting heist he had been captured and thrown in prison serving a sentence for who knows how long. In the meantime he had gotten word of the Sir Francis Drake exhibit in Columbia and he could not pass up the opportunity. A few stowaway trips and one stolen car later he had made it to Cartagena. He hadn't slept in a normal bed for weeks and instead camped out on roof tops letting the stars lull him to sleep.

At the very least he'd be getting a ride back to the US from this Sully.

The two climbed up the few stairs and entered into the lobby which was painted a sickly yellow color. The inside felt stuffy, but the shade was welcomed compared to the smoldering heat of the setting sun.

"Wait here for a moment." Sully said as he slicked back his hair and approached the reception desk that was being manned by a young woman. He reclined against the counter and said something which caused the woman to giggle. Nate rolled his eyes at the Sully's obvious flirting.

Throwing a glance over his shoulder at the door, Nate thought if he was going to change his mind about staying with the older man now was the time to do it. He could easily slip back out the building and disappear before Sully even turned around.

Nate found himself unconsciously squeezing the ring that hung around his neck. No, this risk was worth it. Even if he only stuck with Sully for a few weeks or a month, at least it would get him out of Cartagena and he'd learn some useful techniques along the way. He just had to remain vigilant and ready for anything.

"Hey, Nate!" shaking himself out of his thoughts, he looked towards Sully who was waiting next to the stairs and dangling a room key.

The teen walked up to him with a smirk, "With all that flirting I hope you were able to get a five star room."

"Pssh, I am sure anything is five star compared to where you were probably staying." Something must have dawned on Sully right after he said that for his eyes suddenly went wide and he hesitated before continuing, "Say-uh-kid, I should have asked earlier, but do you have any things you need to grab? I'm not sure where you have been bunking, but we can drop on by and grab whatever."

Nate shook his head and patted his side satchel, "All my stuff is already on me."

"So…your journal…?"

"And a jacket and a pencil."

Sully gave him a look which he couldn't quite decipher, but it made him feel uncomfortable, "Let's go check out the room." He said hurrying past him and to the top of the stairs.

:::::::::::

Unlocking the room, Victor Sullivan pushed the door open and whistled. There were two double beds, a dresser with an ancient TV, a creaking ceiling fan, and some tacky wallpaper that probably hadn't been changed since the 70's, "Ah fit for a king."

"Yeah, a poor king." Nate said stepping inside.

Closing the door, Sully gave a crooked grin; the kid was certainly something else. Maybe that was why he had gone against all logic and saved his goddamn ass, costing him a paycheck and possibly another good night in bed with Marlow.

He was still surprised by his earlier actions. Saving the kid was one thing, but offering to basically take him under his wing? That was another thing entirely! He let out a sigh, perhaps he was growing soft in his old age?

Nah.

Nate stood in front of the only window in the room which overlooked a busy shopping district, "Well, the view isn't bad."

Sully crossed the space and stopped next to the boy who stiffened at the proximity. Yeesh he was skittish. Not that he could blame him, he supposed living on the streets would do that to a person. To ease the kid's nerves, he inconspicuously took a step to the side to add more space between them, "Yeah, shame we'll have to close the curtains."

"Why?" he asked looking at him in confusion.

"Marlow isn't one to give up." He explained as he pulled the curtains shut, "She'll have her crew all over the city looking for us. We're going to have to lay low in here for the rest of the night. "

"Perfect." Nate said dragging a hand through his hair.

There was an awkward silence where the two looked anywhere, but at each other. Finally Sully spoke up again, "No offense kid, but you look like you could use a shower. Why don't you-"

"That's okay." He quickly interrupted.

There's that trust issue thing again.

"Fine then, I'm going to take a shower. Smelling like this gets you nowhere with females." Sully shrugged and walked to the bathroom doorway where he hesitated before turning around, "I think we're safe in here, but should anything happen, just holler okay?"

"O-okay." The kid looked extremely uncomfortable and a bit surprised.

Gaining Nate's trust was going to take time and patience; fortunately Sully was never one to turn down a challenge.

He allowed himself to enjoy a long, hot shower before he decided it was time to get out. Drying off he put back on his pants and white undershirt choosing to leave off his green t-shirt and shoes for the night. He wished he had a fresh change of clothes, but his luggage bag was at the hotel he and Marlow had checked into the night prior and going back there would practically be suicide. Luckily he hadn't really left anything important in his bag.

Opening the bathroom door, he saw Nate lying on one of the beds watching some Spanish drama on TV with his satchel placed next to him. It was strange, a part of Sully had expected the kid to bolt while he was in the shower.

Leaning against the doorway he grinned, "Anything good on?"

Nate shook his head, "I haven't watched TV in at least a year, you'd think they would have made something worth watching by now."

Sully laughed, "Well that's a matter of opinion, though what you have on doesn't look promising." The man then dropped his shoes next to his bed and threw his t-shirt onto the dresser. Sitting down on the bed, he reclined against the pillows and let out a content sigh.

The older man wasn't sure how much time had passed with the two of them just watching TV, but the room had fallen dark as night fell leaving the screen's glow and a bedside lamp as the room's only source of light.

Sully yawned and glanced at his watch. It was late. The day's events were really starting to catch up to him. Looking over at Nate he could see it was taking its toll on the kid as well.

"Kid, you sure you don't want to take a shower? I know there is nothing we can do to clean your clothes, but, you know, not smelling like complete shit will help us not stand out so much at the airport tomorrow."

Nate seemed to really think it over before reaching a conclusion, "I guess." He said slowly, sitting up and sliding off the bed.

He crossed the carpeted floor quickly and closed the bathroom door, an audible click signaling he locked it. Shortly after Sully heard the shower start running.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked across the room at where the boy's bag lay on his bed. The curious side of Sully considered looking through the bag, or more so, the kid's journal. But he knew that was a bad idea. Nate's trust in him was fragile at best. It just wasn't worth it.

Instead, Sully closed his eyes and simply relaxed.

The sound of running water stopped not long after it began and soon Nate exited the bathroom holding his shoes.

"Damn that was a fast shower." Sully commented to which Nate shrugged.

The teen made his way back to his bed where Sully noticed he immediately grabbed his bag and looked inside it. Seeming satisfied, he moved it onto the floor next to him.

"I'm not sure about you, but I'm beat. I'm getting some shut eye." Sully said, reaching to turn off the lamp.

"Wait!" Nate said holding up his hand causing Sully to freeze mid action, "Er- is it alright if we leave the lamp on for a bit. I'm going to jot some stuff down in my journal."

"Sure, just turn it off when you done." He answered withdrawing his hand and climbing under the sheets, "Just make sure you don't stay up too late."

Nate rolled his eyes, "Right."

He was clearly exhausted, but if he chose to stay up late to write about whatever, that was his choice. Either way they were getting up before sunup.

 **I beat Uncharted 4 a few days ago and I am so sad that the series is over. I loved the characters so much! To fill the void in my heart I decided to write some one shots. I'm currently working on one about Nate getting sick. Anyway, please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Sick in New Orleans

Nate wiped the sweat off his forehead. Why was New Orleans so miserable right now, it was only March? It wasn't the heat so much as the humidity that made going outside so unpleasant. And speaking of unpleasant, he had been feeling awful since this morning. Usually he is pretty good at getting up on his own, but today Sully had to yell a "rise and shine" to get him out of bed. And when he had gone to stand up, he could immediately tell something was off as his equilibrium swayed. He had naively hoped the feeling would go away.

Naturally, it hadn't. Now he was trudging behind Sully, cooking in the mid-morning sun, feeling slightly nauseous and short winded.

"Come on, kid, keep up." Sully called from up ahead. He had known the man for a total of three months now and they were currently on their way to meet up with an employer. This would be his second job with Sully so he had to do this. He didn't want the older man to know how bad he felt because he didn't want Sully seeing him as weak or a burden. He had to be useful or Sully might not….

He shook his head trying not to think about it which turned out to be a mistake for the motion caused his already rocky balance to sway and he ended up stumbling. Catching himself, he took a deep breath and concentrated on each step. He could power house through this meeting. Then maybe they would need a day to prepare for the heist or whatever and he could sleep. Ah yes sleep. That sounded really nice right now.

"-ate. Nate!" the voice of Sully once again pulled him from his thoughts.

"Huh what?" Nate blinked up at his mentor.

"I asked if you were feeling alright. You've been really quiet."

"You always complain about me talking too much. Savor the silence, Sully." The teen smiled, well, he tried to anyway. He really wasn't feeling as cheery as he was acting and judging by the weird look on Sully's face, he guessed his attempted facade failed at masking anything, "Listen, I'm fine. Now where is the bar we're going to again?"

Sully shrugged and, thankfully, dropped the topic, "Right past Bourbon Street. A nice little establishment called Club VooDoo. You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than at that place."

Nate looked at his mentor with a raised eyebrow as he tried to ignore the building sense of nausea, "A wretched hive of scum and what?"

"You've never seen Star Wars?"

"I've heard of it." He responded, hands slowly wrapping around his churning stomach.

"Jesus, kid." Sully said rounding a corner, "I'm not much into the cinema myself, but even I have seen-"

The nausea peaked and a second later, Nate found himself keeled over emptying his stomach on the sidewalk. He wasn't sure who was more surprised, Sully or him. The older man said something, but Nate wasn't paying attention for another wave hit him and he was back to throwing up.

When he finally managed to get some air he gasped out in a shaky voice, "There's my breakfast."

"Goddamnit, kid, you're sick! I knew something was wrong with you."

"It's okay," Nate said wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "I can still-"

"Like hell you can!" Sully scolded, "Come on, let's get you back to the hotel."

The teen straightened and immediately began swaying. He would have fallen if it weren't for large hands grabbing and steadying him.

What was wrong with him? He had never been this sick?

"What about the contact." Nate mumbled weakly.

"I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate someone throwing up on him." Sully joked, lightly pulling on his arm to get him to turn around and start walking, but Nate didn't budge.

"Then you should go." Sweat was now running down his face and he tried to ignore the way his legs were shaking, "I'll –I'll go back to the room and meet up with you later."

"I don't trust you to make it back to the room on your own. Look at you, you're barely standing and I think your skins hit a shade lighter than pale."

"The money…"

"Forget about that. I'll call our contact as soon as we get back up and postpone the job for a day or two." Sully said, grabbing one of Nates arms and guiding it across his shoulders while his other hand gripped the teen's waist.

Nate wanted to argue more, would have argued more, but as another bout of nausea overcame him, he didn't trust his mouth to open and only release words.

Their hike back to the hotel was a quiet one and Nate found himself leaning more and more into Sully's hold as sleep called to him. He could barely recall the walk through the lobby and the ride up the elevator, but here he was being slowly lowered into his bed.

He felt Sully begin to untie his shoes and he weakly swatted at the man, "Stop…I got it."

"Damnit kid, I know you're the big, strong, do it yourself, loner type, but for once let someone else help you."

It wasn't the idea of letting someone else help him that was the problem! ...Okay, so maybe it was a _little_ bit of that, but he just didn't want Sully seeing him so…vulnerable. He had to be strong -always had to be- both for himself and for Sam.

:::::::::::

Sully finished and threw the dirty sneakers to the ground. He was not used to playing nursemaid. The kid was as sick as a dog and he was not making this any easier on him, "How you feeling, kid?"

"Crappy." Was the one worded response he received followed by, "Hot."

Right, he should probably take his temperature or something. He didn't have anything like a thermometer on him. He'd just have to wing it for the moment until he could call the front desk and maybe get a doctor to pay a visit. Moving to the bathroom, the older man grabbed a cloth and ran cold tap water over it. Folding it he went back to the side of the bed.

"Here, this oughta help cool you down." Sully explained passing him the damp towel, "I'm going to call a doctor okay?"

"No." Nate mumbled placing the cloth on his forehead.

"Believe me, I don't like doctors either, but I don't know what you've got." Picking up the receiver he dialed in the reception desk's number.

"Good morning, this is the Sunset Inn reception desk, may I help you?" a male voice answered.

"Yeah, good morning. Listen my uh-" Sully thought a moment. He couldn't call Nate his protégé to this person. That would be weird. To everyone they were just tourists, so he threw out the first thing that came to mind, "-my son is sick. I need a doctor sent up here."

He could hear Nate shift in the bed behind him and he couldn't blame him. Son, really? He couldn't have said his nephew or something? Whatever, it was no big deal, really.

"Yes, sir, I will arrange one to be sent up immediately. Your name and room number, please?"

After all the proper information was given, Sully hung up the phone and turned around to see Nate staring at him with confused, half lidded eyes.

"What?"

"Son?" he said, "Why'd you say that?"

"It's just a cover up kid, keep your shirt on." Sully said.

"Right…" Nate said looking away from the older man, grip tightening on the white sheets.

"Anyway, the doc will be here in about ten minutes so…" Sully trailed off as he heard Nate mutter something, "What was that? I can't hear you."

"Trash can!" he gasped out sitting up lighting fast.

"Shit!" Sully threw back open the door to the bathroom and grabbed the small bronze cylinder and practically thrust it into Nate's waiting hands. The kid dropped his face inside the can and proceeded to make horrible retching sounds that made Sully wince.

Minutes passed and Nate's head slowly rose back up; all color in his lips completely gone.

"Never try out for a choir because I don't think you'd make the cut." He didn't receive a chuckle or even a glare from the teen, instead the boy simply flopped back against the pillows. "Here, let me take that loveliness from you." The man said grabbing for the trash can.

After what felt like a small eternity, there was a knock on the door. At some point during their waiting, Nate had fallen asleep and Sully had dragged a chair next to his bed. Putting down the magazine he was reading, he stood up from his seat and opened the hotel room door.

"Are you Mr. Sullivan?" he asked with a smile, "I'm Dr. Steiner."

"That'd be me." He said opening the door wider, "The kid's on the bed."

The doctor stepped into the room and placed his bag on the nightstand before he began digging inside, "Can you explain his symptoms, please?"

"Er, yeah we were touring downtown when he suddenly started throwing up. I brought him back to the hotel and he complained that he was hot. He's asleep now."

"And the boy's name?"

"Nathan."

"Alright let's see what I can do." Pulling out a thermometer and a stethoscope he looked at Sully, "I am going to need to wake him up. He might be a bit startled if it's a complete stranger though, so would you mind?"

"Uh-sure, no problem." Sully said walking around the other side of the bed. Man he really hoped the kid didn't do anything too weird that would que off this guy that they weren't anything more than the average, tourist 'family' just here to experience Mardi Gras. Grabbing the teen's shoulder he began to lightly shake him, "Nate, I need you to wake up for a second, the doctors here."

The kid reflexively grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder although the movement was sluggish. Brown, glassy eyes slowly blinked open and connected with his own. Upon seeing the hand belonged to Sully, Nate released his hold on it and opened his mouth, "Su-"

"Hey, kid." The older man cut him off, "I want to introduce you to Doctor Steiner. Doctor Steiner, this is my son, Nathan." He put emphasis on the word 'son.'

Nate's gaze turned onto the doctor. His eyes seemed to be scanning him up and down in distrust.

"Hello, Nathan, I would just like check on a few things so we can get you back to normal as quickly as possible." The doctor smiled.

"'Okay." Man this whole weak demeanor did not fit Nate's normally feisty attitude. The kid looked about ready to fall back asleep right there.

"Can you sit up for me?"

Nate placed shaking arms at his side and pushed himself up. The action appeared to be taking way more out of him than it should and Sully had half the mind to help him, but knew the kid would just fuss at him so he chose to let him be.

:::::::::::

By the end of the visit the doctor concluded that he had nothing to worry about. Nate had picked up some kind of bug and the fever was his body's way of trying to get rid of it. The kid just needed fluids and rest. He was currently passed out and muttering gibberish though Sully thought he could make out the word "Sam." The older man just shrugged, the name had no meaning to him.

Now he just had to call Don, the man they were supposed to meet with. Rummaging through his wallet he pulled out a slip of paper with a phone number on it. Picking up the phone, he dialed in the digits and reclined against the wall as it rang.

"Hello?" a gruff voice answered.

"Hey Don, how the heck are ya?"

"Sullivan? You should have been here twenty minutes ago."

"And I would have been, but something came up." He explained, twisting the phone's wire around his index finger, "My partner isn't doing so well at the moment, but given some time he'll be good to go."

"I need this job done now." He snarled.

"Don't be like that, Don. Just give me two days and then I can easily pull off the job."

"Why not leave this partner of yours behind and do the gig without him?"

Sully glanced down at Nate's sleeping form. His bangs were plastered to his head with sweat and his face was flushed. He couldn't leave the kid alone in this kind of state, but….they really needed the money.

"I've heard-" Don began after not receiving a reply, "-that you are traveling with a child. But I told myself those rumors must be false because Victor Sullivan is not a child friendly kind of guy."

"Two days, Don." Sully said ignoring his statement, "After that you can give the job to some other sap."

There was a pause and for a moment Sully wondered if he had been hung up on before Don spoke up, "Because I have known you for a long time, I will give you two day, but anymore and the job is no longer yours."

The line went dead.

"Yeah, goodbye to you too pal." Sully murmured before placing the phone back on the receiver. Taking a deep breath, he let out a sigh. He could really go for a smoke about now.

"Was that our contact?"

The older man turned around to see Nate staring at him. "Jesus kid, give me a goddamn heart attack why don't you!" he said dragging a hand through his hair. Had he been feigning sleep when he last looked at him? "But yeah, that was our contact, Donald Berkawitz."

"Did I…make us lose the gig?" yeesh the kid looked pathetic.

"Almost did, but I managed to convince Don otherwise." He said moving to the room's mini-fridge and grabbing a bottle of complimentary water, "So long as your better in two days, the job is ours."

"And if I'm not?"

Why was Nate so worried about it? He should be sleeping, dreaming about hot girls, not fretting over some lousy job.

"Then we miss out and can enjoy a parade or two. It's not like this is exactly the job of a lifetime we're talking about here." He shrugged twisting the bottle open.

"What about the money?"

Not that again.

"I'll bust open a piggy bank." The teen fixed him with a halfhearted glare, "Listen, Nate, we'll manage. It may mean eating pancakes three times a day until I can contact some guys I know who almost always have some kind of job that needs to get done, but we won't become bums under a bridge."

"Yeah, but Sully-"

"Kid, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

That earned him a small smile, "An old codger may have mentioned it once or twice."

"Yeah well, that old codger probably knew what he was talking about." He held out the water to him, "Now drink this -and small sips because we really don't want you singing to the trash can again."

 **Here's the next chapter! Funnily enough, I've been sick the past few days fighting off a cold. Anyway, thank you all for your reviews! Please continue to let me know what you think! 3**


End file.
